Raise your hand if you’ve ever copy and pasted a portion of your Instagram caption into your Pinterest Pin Description, OR just leave them blank and let Pinterest pull them from your website. 🤚 If that’s you, I have news: your pin descriptions are vital to getting your pins seen on Pinterest!

Why Pin Descriptions Are So Important:

Writing optimized pin descriptions containing the right keywords is vital for two reasons:

1) It helps the Pinterest algorithm understand what your pin is about

2) It helps your audience find your content because you are using the keywords they are searching for

As a visual search engine, your pin designs are what generates interest and get people clicking and engaging with your pin, but the pin description is how it gets shown to them. That’s why pin descriptions are such an important part of a great Pinterest strategy.

Change Up Your Pin Descriptions:

If you are creating 3-5 pin designs for each new blog post or piece of content, you ideally want to craft a new pin description with each pin design. This is because you likely have many keywords you want to use, and using them all in one pin description would look pretty spammy. So, vary those keywords out by tweaking your pin descriptions a bit for each pin.

For example, with this post, maybe I want to create one pin description that goes to this blog with the keywords “Pinterest marketing tips” and “Pinterest Marketing Hacks” and then the next one with “Pinterest SEO” and “Pinterest Strategy”. I can craft one optimized description and then tweak the keywords slightly to include varying keywords. You don’t want to always target the same keywords, so switch it up a bit!

How to Write Pin Descriptions

The formula I follow for writing pin descriptions varies slightly for each niche, but as a general rule, I aim for 3-4 sentences, and at least 3-5 keywords. The formula goes like this:

INTRODUCTION (In this blog post, I’m sharing KEYWORD tips and KEYWORD inspiration for creating/crafting/planning (fill in the right verb) KEYWORD/MAIN TOPIC. Find KEYWORD, KEYWORD, KEYWORD and KEYWORD to help you (DO THIS THING THEY WANT TO ACHIEVE). Find more KEYWORD resources at YOURWEBSITE.COM

An example for this blog post would be (keywords bolded):

In the blog post I’m sharing Pinterest SEO tips and Pinterest marketing inspiration to help you create the perfect pin descriptions. Find Pinterest marketing hacks, Pinterest marketing Ideas, and how to find Pinterest keywords to help you create pins that attract your ideal audience on the platform. Find more Pinterest Tips for Beginners and SEO resources at vineyardcreativeco.com.

Feel free to copy and paste this formula and try it yourself!

Finding Pinterest Keywords:

I’ve mentioned keywords a lot with all of this talk about writing the perfectly optimized pin description. But, how do you find the perfect keywords to use in your descriptions?

There are a lot of methods for doing Pinterest keyword research, but here are a couple of my favorites:

1) Manual Research Using the Pinterest Search Bar

Make sure the search bar is set to ‘All Pins’ first as it usually defaults to ‘Your Pins’ and then just start typing. You can make a note of any relevant keywords that drop down and make sense for your content. Here’s a video tutorial I’ve made explaining how to do this!

2) Pinterest Trends Tool

You can also use the Pinterest Trends Tool to perform keyword research and see how phrases and keywords are currently trending with their search volume. Check out “Top Monthly Trends” for content that tends to perform well during particular months, and aim to create that content 2-3 months before it starts to trend.

3) Pin Inspector

Pin Inspector is hands down my favorite tool for Pinterest keyword research! Easily get hundreds of keywords and sort them by volume, then easily copy and paste into a spreadsheet and save for later. This is the number one tool I use when performing keyword research for clients, and it saves me TONS of time. This is a one time purchase software, and with my affiliate link you can get $20 off!

Want My Full Formula for Optimized Pin Descriptions?

Inside my workshop Pin Copy Magic, you’ll learn how the copy you use on your pin graphics and in your pin titles and descriptions can target your ideal audience and magnify your reach for more impressions and conversions. Learn how to create click-worthy pins, master pin SEO, and swipe my pin title and description formulas, along with my favorite Chat GPT prompt for SEO-optimized pin copy.

*This blog post may contain affiliate links. I never recommend anything I don’t personally love and use myself for my clients or in my own business!